Timeless
by Shelbae-Martini
Summary: I wonder why I'm writing this down if I'll never forget it, but at the age I am, it could die any day along with me, and I want it to live forever, so here I am, about to retell the tale of my life. The time spent in the neighbourhood, the time spent in Windrixville and the time spent with the gang. Here is my story.
1. Chapter 1

As I sit here writing this, my hands are shaking so violently, it's almost impossible to keep the pen on the paper. My hands ache from the arthritis and my heart aches from retelling my tale. It's surprising to me that I remember at my age, but what happened to me in 1964 is something I will _never _forget. It was the year I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, the year I met my closest friends, the year I _lost _my closest friends and the year I met the love of my life. In aspect of the events that occurred, I am surprised that I did not lose my love that same year. I wonder why I'm writing this down if I'll never forget it, but at the age I am, it could die any day along with me, and I want it to live forever, so here I am, about to retell the tale of my life. The time spent in the neighbourhood, the time spent in Windrixville and the time spent with the gang. Here is my story;

* * *

Chapter 1

Each time I think of the car ride, I start sweating. Four hours stuck in a confined place, surrounded by luggage. Opening the window did nothing but force more hot air into the car, so I suffered for four hours. Why we were moving to Tulsa from Saginaw, I had no idea. My mother calls the move 'the beginning of a new life,' but I didn't see the reasoning behind our 'new life' beginning four hours away, but I guessed it had something to do with dad's death. Either mom didn't want to be haunted by the memory of my father, or she didn't want to be seen with my step-dad, because _boy_, was he a downgrade. My father was a handsome man, tall with olive skin, dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He was kind, compassionate and caring. He always put mom and I before him and did everything he could for us. My step-father Doug, on the other hand, was a short, fat, selfish slob and I hated him. It astonished me how my mother could go from a prince like my father to a peasant like Doug. I don't think I've ever hated anyone more than him and the fact that I had to live with him disgusted me. I knew he didn't make my mother happy and he sure as hell didn't have a lot of money, we never did have a lot, but I didn't get why my mother stayed with him. Maybe it was the comfort of having a partner, but the only thing he gave her was bruises. I was 16 years old in 1964. I was thankful I looked like my dad, not because my mother wasn't beautiful, she was, but because I was a living, walking memory of my dad. I had his hair, facial features and skin tone, but I had my mother's dark blue eyes. I guess you could say I changed after my father died. I had never loved anyone more in my life and having that love taken away from you is like the world collapsing upon itself. Everything you do suddenly becomes a burden, you become anxious and stressed all of the time and you feel empty. In my sixteenth year, I was an introvert. I hated talking to people and I didn't make friends easily, but I told myself that my dad wouldn't want to see me in such a depressive state, so I was trying to open myself up more.

* * *

Before we went to our new home, we had to get gas. We went to the DX, and I was dying to get out of the car, even thought the temperature wasn't much better outside than in the car.

"Do you want to go get a Coke or something, Arie?" my mother asked, turning around to look at me. Doug was outside filling the car.

"Sure." I responded, stretching out my arm to collect the money she was giving to me.

"Pay for the gas while you're in there, too." I nodded, leaving the car. I was overwhelmed by the smell of gas and the heat. One thing about me is that I used to love wearing dresses. On that day, I was wearing a bright yellow dress with a sweetheart neckline and straps that were about three fingers wide. The dress had white polkadots on it. It stopped just above the knee. My father gave it to me, so I thought today was an appropriate day to wear it. Anyways, I made my way into the store. It was a lot cooler in the store than it was outside, so I was relieved. There was a lot of girls in the store, just kind of standing around, perhaps to avoid the heat. I brought my Coke up to the counter. I remember clear as day being taken aback by the boy working the counter. He looked to be around my age. The first thing I noticed about him were his eyes. Brownish-gold, dancing with life. He had dark gold hair that was combed back and a stunning smile. He wasn't like any other boy I had seen before. I had seen good looking boys, don't get me wrong, but this boy was movie star handsome. I now knew why there was so many girls.

"That all?" he asked, ringing up my Coke.

"Ah, no," I put the gas money on the counter. "Pump three." he returned my Coke and took the rest of the money. I looked at his name tag. '_Sodapop Curtis._' Surely that couldn't be his real name.

"I don't think I've seen you here before."

"I-uh- I just moved here. I haven't even been to my house yet." I was cursing myself out in my head. I hated talking to people, I had terrible social skills, and he was beautiful, making my brain become clustered with rapid thoughts, so I was having trouble even forming logical sentences.

"My name's Sodapop." So it was his real name. He looked behind my shoulder, presumably checking to see if there was any customers behind me.

"I'm Arie." I told him. He smiled.

"That's an interesting name." And Sodapop isn't? I would've said it if I wasn't so shy. I looked behind me to see out the door. Doug was back in the car, looking impatient.

"I'd really love to stay and talk, but I should probably get going. I gotta unpack and stuff, but I'll see you in school." I said. He frowned.

"I, uh-" Before Soda could finish his sentence, I heard Doug honking the horn outside. I shut my eyes, sighed, and pointed towards the door. "See ya around." I nodded and left. Doug, of course, questioned why I was in the store so long, so I told him there was a big lineup.

"It didn't look like it." he said.

"Well, it was, I was in there, you weren't."

"Watch your mouth." he hissed. I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my Coke. Boy, did I want to see Soda again, but a guy like him couldn't be single. He was attracting girls to the store like flies to honey. I was praying that we had classes together, so I was actually looking forward to Monday. If I couldn't have Soda, I could at least try and become friends with him. My first half an hour in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I already had a mission to accomplish.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I'm sorry that this story is starting off kind of slow, but I promise that it'll pick up in the next chapter. :) I hope you're enjoying so far as I don't really post any of my Fanfictions online, so this is the first one I've ever published. Enjoy this chapter and have a lovely day! :)**

**~Shelby**

Chapter 2

That night, my mind was full of thoughts. I was an idiot for assuming Soda and I went to the same school. And I only assumed his age and looks could lie, so he could've been in college for all I knew. I also thought about my father and how disappointed he would've been with the house. It was in the dirty part of town. The wallpaper in every room was peeling, the windows were dirty, the lawn was messy and dead and the front door didn't lock, but I had to live with what I had. Dad would've made it his life goal to fix the house and make it beautiful, but Doug was too lazy and didn't give a damn about his surroundings, so I knew he wouldn't make the effort to make the house decent looking. I couldn't fall asleep with all the thoughts racing in my mind, so I was extremely angry when my mother came to my room to get me up.

"Arie, it's time to get up. You have a big day ahead of you!" she was always so energetic in the morning and I couldn't even sit up without laying in bed for at least 10 minutes. I grunted, signalling that I was awake. She left my room, but not before opening my blinds, sending the sun directly into my face. Annoyed, I pulled myself up out of bed and aimlessly grabbed a dress from my closet. I was very picky with my dresses, so when I grabbed a dress without even looking, I knew I was going to have a rough day. It ended up being a plain light blue one, practically the same style as my yellow one. The school wasn't too far away, so I ended up just walking to school. I was nervous as hell when I climbed the stairs to the school. I was having trouble actually getting up the stairs, people kept pushing in front of me. It was like I wasn't even there. There were a lot of steps leading up to the front doors, so when I was two steps away from the top, I was relieved, until a boy bumped into me, making me lose my footing. Thankfully, I fell forward and I was able to brace myself.

"What the hell!?" I exclaimed, jerking my head to look at him. He looked younger than me. He had slicked back brown, almost red hair, and greenish-grey eyes. He was red as a beet, fumbling to pick up my books.

"I-uh-I-" he stuttered. I sighed, picking myself up and dusting off the front of my dress.

"It's fine." I said, helping him with my books.

"I should've watched where I was goin'."

"No, it's fine." I reiterated. "Can you tell me where room 258 is?" I asked him as we entered the school.

"It's right beside the girl's bathroom." he told me. I thanked him and made my way to room 258. The first class I had was English. I was in A-classes and all the kids in my class were the rich, snobbish kids. I thought my English was nice until he made me introduce myself to the class. I hated the feeling of people staring at me and having 30 sets of eyes on me wasn't exactly a day at the beach.

"I'm Arie." I said, trying to sound as confident as possible. "Arie Hughes. I'm from Saginaw, Michigan." My face was burning as I nodded to the class. My introduction did absolutely nothing. By lunch I still hadn't talked to anyone except the boy who knocked me over, so my first instinct was to find him. It didn't take me long to find him, I found him in the back parking lot, but I was intimidated as hell when I did. It was him that was scary, it was the boys he was with, all except one of them. There was this short guy standing behind him, constantly checking over his shoulder. He was real tan with big, black eyes. He had black hair to match that fell over his forehead, almost covering his eyes. The guy beside him had light brown hair and long sideburns. The last guy was taller than the rest of them, with black hair and a hard look to him. All five of them wore their hair slicked back, well, except for the tan kid, but he did have noticeable grease in his hair. They were all smoking, too. I stood there, too nervous to approach them and thankfully the guy who bumped into me noticed I was just kind of staring at them, so he jogged up to me.

"Hey. Why are you here?" he asked.

"I, uh, I just thought that maybe I could hang with you. I'm Arie, by the way."

"I'm Ponyboy." he told me.

"Ponyboy?" I asked. Surely that couldn't have been his real name.

"That's my name. I even got a brother named Sodapop."

"Oh!" I got excited at his name. "I met him at the gas station! Does he go here?" Ponyboy looked away.

"He's a dropout."

"Oh." That explained why I hadn't seen him around. I was extremely disappointed.

"Hey, Ponyboy! What's the deal? She hard to get?" the one with the sideburns shouted.

"You wanna meet the boys?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Might as well." I needed friends and even though I wasn't exactly happy with what the one just said, I'd get over it. We made our way back to the others. "This is Arie." I was glad that Ponyboy introduced me. It was hard doing it in front of 30 respectable looking kids, I think if I had done it in front of three tough looking guys, I'd die. "Arie, that's Two-Bit, Steve and Johnny." Two-Bit was the one with sideburns, Steve was the mean looking one and Johnny was the short one.

"Where do you live?" Two-Bit asked, squinting.

"In the East end, kind of by Tiber street. I don't remember the street name."

"No way." Steve said, throwing his cigarette on the ground.

"So you're one of us?" Two-Bit asked.

"I don't know what that means, but sure."

"He means that you're a greaser. Not a Soc." Ponyboy said. By the names, I could tell that Socs were upper class folk and greasers were lower class folk.

"It's not the most flattering of names, but I guess so." Before we could continue the conversation, the bell rang. "Well, I'll talk to you guys later."

"You should come by the house sometime." Ponyboy suggested. Jackpot. Not only was I making friend surprisingly easy, but I got invited to Ponyboy's house and the best thing about it was that Soda would be there, hopefully.

"Yeah, sure." I said, smiling at the thought of being in the same house as Soda. Now that I'm reliving this, I'm now realizing how crazy about him I was. I didn't even know anything about him except that he was handsome. I guess I was a fangirl, I thought of him like Beatlemaniacs thought about the Beatles. By the end of the day, I was feeling quite good. My spirits were high and I couldn't wait to get home and tell my mother about my day, but when I saw the police lights and heard the sirens as I got closer to my home, I deflated and started running as fast as I could to the house.


	3. Chapter 3

**I AM SO SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LONG DELAY IN CHAPTERS AND I'M SORRY ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THIS CHAPTER, BUT I'LL TRY TO BE MORE CONSISTANT. **

**~Shelby 3**

Chapter 3

Now, based on what I have just written down, you can tell how paranoid Doug made me. I mean, if you see sirens by your house, you should automatically feel worried, but I was more than worried. Thankfully though, the sirens weren't a product of anything that happened at my house. There was an elderly couple who lived next to us and the man suffered from heart problems and had had an incident. Thankfully, he was alright, but at the time, he required medical attention.

I entered the house, hoping that I didn't look as flustered as I felt. My mother was sitting on the couch by herself, reading a fashion magazine.

"Hi." I said, getting her attention. 'Hi' came out as an exhale more than an actual word.

"You seem out of breath, Arabella." My mother pointed out, putting the magazine down beside her.

"I'm just tired. I woke up pretty early this morning and didn't get much sleep last night. Where's Doug?"

"He's upstairs, so can you please watch your noise levels? No records tonight." I looked at the clock above the couch.

"It's only 5:30, he has to still be awake."

"He had a rough day." she said, giving me an exasperated look.

"That's not my fucking problem." I said, turning around towards the door. I'd been here no longer than two minutes and I already wanted to get out.

"Watch your language!" she exclaimed, getting up off of the couch. "He is your step-father and you're gonna have to get used to it!"

"Whatever!" I yelled, rushing out the door. I didn't even bother grabbing a jacket or anything.

* * *

I stormed down the street, hoping to God I woke up Doug. I didn't even care that he'd be angry with me when I got home. It baffled me how my mother always took his side in everything, when I was her daughter.

I ended up walking by what I assumed to be Ponyboy's house, because lo and behold, there he was. Sodapop Curtis was outside working on a rusty truck parked in the driveway. I remember wanting to crawl right underneath that truck with him. I could just imagine how sweaty and greasy he was under there.

"Can I help you?" A voice interrupted my fantasies. I quickly looked up towards the front door. An incredibly tall, broad man stood in the door frame, arms folded, showing extreme muscle definition. He had dark brown hair and icy, blue eyes.

"Oh! I'm uh, I'm here for-"

"Arie?" A familiar voice said. Sodapop was pulling himself up from underneath the truck. He was wearing his work shirt, so I-unfortunately-couldn't see what I _really _wanted to see, but God, was I glad he saved me from the awkward encounter and most importantly, _he remembered my name_. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, y'know, just, um, getting familiar with the neighbourhood."

"Well, jeez, it's gettin' dark out! You shouldn't be wanderin' this neighbourhood by yourself." Soda told me. "Oh! Arie, this is my big brother, Darry. Darry, this is Arie, she just moved in down the street." Darry's eyes widened. "I know! Maybe she'll be the start of some revolution or somethin'. Clean up this neighbourhood or somethin'."

"Nice meetin' you, Arie." Darry said, retreating back into the house. Soda and I stood staring at each other for what felt like an eternity. God, looking at him was like looking at a masterpiece painted by a professional painter. Everything about him was too perfect to be real.

"So..." he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. They were covered in oil and grease. "What are you _really _doin' down here?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I told you, I'm familiarizing myself with the neighbourhood."

"And how do you like it so far?"

"It's complete pig shit." I mumble, immediately regretting it until Soda's eyes light up with admiration. "What?" I asked, a smile spreading across my face.

"A girl like you ain't supposed to talk like that."

"And what exactly is 'a girl like me?'" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"You know! Like, you're all fancy and stuff, like a Soc!" he smiles. "But you ain't a Soc."

"So what am I?" I enquired him. Soda thought for a moment before bursting out into a big goofy smile.

"I don't know, Arie, but I'd love to find out."


	4. Chapter 4 (CONTAINS MENTION OF RAPE)

Chapter 4

That night, my heart wouldn't stop fluttering. How was it possible to be in love with someone after only having met them twice? Now that I look back on it, I must have been in love with his looks at the time. He reminded me of Ricky Nelson way. He had that superstar look to him.

{}

By the time I got home, Doug and my mother were already asleep, so I didn't have to deal with his bullshit until the morning. When I woke up, I was more than ecstatic that it was already the weekend. I had only had to go to school one day and I had even more time to get settled. I would've stayed in my room all day if my mother didn't come force me out. I didn't want to spend any amount of time around Doug, so I got dressed and went outside. I had no idea where anything was, so it was pretty stupid of me to just head out, but at least I knew where my house was. I ended up at the gas station we had stopped at to get gas before. Unfortunately, Soda wasn't there and it occurred that I had no real reason to be there. I had no money, so I couldn't buy anything. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Steve staring at me as if I was a pile of trash. He looked straight up disgusted.

"What're you doin' here?"

"Oh, I was uh, I was just-"

"She was here to meet us." A girl with bright red hair interrupted. She walked up to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. "C'mon, let's get going." I followed the red haired girl, who was accompanied by another girl with a short brown bob, out of the gas station. We all stopped just outside of the gas station. The red haired girl rolled her eyes. "He is _such _a pain. If Sodapop didn't there, they'd be out of business. I'm Cherry, by the way." she told me with a sweet smile. "And this is Marcia."

"Hiya." Marcia said, stepping forward and shaking my hand.

"My name is Arie." I said to the both of them. "You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah we did." Marcia said. "He's the definition of dirt." She shuddered. I wanted to defend Steve, but based on the reaction he had to me, I doubt he'd ever defend me, so I just nodded.

"Hey, Arie, I'm having a party at my house next Friday night, you should totally come!"

"Really?" I asked, probably sounding more confused than I should've.

"Of course! You seem like such a sweet girl and I'm sure our friends would love you, right Marcia?"

"Oh, yeah, totally. They'd love you, Arie." Marcia agreed, nodding aggressively. I couldn't tell if she legitimately meant that, or just wanted to please Cherry.

"Thank you, Cherry." I said, smiling. I had been invited to my first party.

"I'll give you my address later. Wanna meet up back here on Tuesday?"

"Sure!" I agreed, feeling ecstatic.

"Alright, it was lovely meeting you, Shelby!" Cherry said, walking past me.

"Yeah!" Marcia added.

{}

Fast forward to Friday. I had been spending the majority of my time with Cherry and Marcia. I was so excited for Cherry's party, I don't think I have ever been that excited in my life, well, maybe when I had my daughter, but we'll get to that later.

I think I spent about three hours trying to decide what to wear until I finally decided on something. Before I left, Cherry called to inform me that her boyfriend, Bob, would be picking me up from my house.

"Where do you live?" she asked. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn't tell her where I lived, she'd definitely stop hanging out with me.

"Just get Bob to meet me at the DX." I told her.

"Alright, I'll let him know. See you soon!"

{}

I didn't wait at the DX for very long. Bob showed up in a blue mustang, which didn't surprise me at all. I got in the car and was assaulted by the smell of alcohol.

"Hi, I'm Arie." I told him.

"Name's Bob." he said, pulling out of the parking lot. "Before you ask, I haven't been drinking, I spilled a bunch of beer in the car before I came and got you."

"Oh, alright." I kept my eyes glued to the road, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

"Fuck, you'd think Cherry would come pick up her own friends." he complained. "I mean, she has her little Stingray, but of course, she can't take five fucking minutes to do something for someone else." I didn't say anything. "I can't tell you how many times I've had to do shit for her. And you know what I get?" I stayed silent. "Huh?"

"What do you get?" I stuttered.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, not even a 'thank you, Bob.' You thank your boyfriend when he goes out of his way to do stuff for you, right?"

"I, um, don't have a boyfriend." I responded.

"Shit! Really?" Bob's eyes kept going from the road, then back to me.

"Yep." I said.

"You know, the only reason I'm still with Cherry is because everyone thinks she's fucking hot. She won't even put out and we've been together for six months. It's ridiculous." Bob bitched as we pulled into Cherry's drive way. There were people entering her extravagant home. I reached for the handle. "Wait," Bob said, reaching out his hand. "Arie, was it?"

"Yeah."

"Tell Cherry I'll be in in a minute."

{}

Walking into the house, I automatically felt out of place. Her house was gorgeous. Not only that, but there were _tons _of people. And of course, they were all drinking and smoking. I made my way through the crowd, trying to find Cherry when I finally ran into her.

"Oh hey!" she shouted over the loud music. "Where's Bob?"

"He said he'd be in in a minute." I shouted back.

"Oh, alright. Go introduce yourself to people!" she demanded, turning me around and shoving me back into the crowd.

{}

The events that happened after are still extremely foggy, but I can remember that that night was the first time I had ever drank and smoked. What I do remember clearly, however, is what happened towards the end of the night. I was walking through the crowd of heavily intoxicated people, trying to find the bathroom, but I was having trouble, saying as I was a heavily intoxicated person. Suddenly, a hand firmly grasped my wrist and led me upstairs. I was brought into what I'm assuming was Cherry's parent's room. The person shut the door behind us. I turned around to see who had brought me here.

"Bob?" I asked, grabbing the wall to keep myself balanced. He bent over so that he was at eye level with me, held his finger in front of my face and moved it back and forth. I remember having a hard time following it.

"Perfect." Bob grabbed my waist and walked towards me until the back of my knees hit the bed and I fell. When I fell on the bed, Bob got on top of me and held my arms down.

"Bob... stop..." I said, turning away from him, but no matter how many times I said no or stop or that I was a virgin, he didn't stop. He never did.


	5. Chapter 5

I kept quiet about what I happened between Bob and I. There were

many reasons why I did, the main one being I didn't have anyone to talk to about it. And if I did tell Cherry, she'd for sure kill me. I did know, however, that if I didn't tell _someone_, it would eventually boil up inside me and I'd explode. {} I couldn't stay home from school, Doug wouldn't allow it, so I just sucked it up and put on my best smile. I sat with Cherry at lunch, who couldn't stop talking about how big of a success the party was, and Marcia, who was begging her to throw another one soon. "What do you think, Arie?" Cherry asked me. "Did you have fun? Should I throw another one?" "Oh yeah, I had a great time." I lied. "You should definitely throw one again." "I'm so glad to hear!" Cherry exclaimed, a smile growing on her face. "I was afraid you'd feel awkward, y'know, with you being new and whatnot." "Don't worry, I had a blast!" I told her. "Everyone was so nice." "How was Bob when he picked you up? I know he can be really cold when you first meet him, but once you get to know him, he's a real sweetheart." I tried swallowing the lump in my throat. "He was really nice." Was all I said. "He's a very polite guy." "Aw, Arie! In so glad you're getting on with everyone!" "Yeah!" Marcia agreed. "It's nice to have some new faces in the group." "Oh, I know!" Cherry almost groaned. "I'm honestly getting sick of seeing the same old people. It's no fun." I nodded, letting my eyes wander to the window. I looked out into the parking lot. The parking lot was typically where the Greasers spent their lunch hour. I was able to spot Ponyboy and some other guys from the gang all leaning on Two-Bit's car. They were out there rough housing and laughing and boy, did I wish I was out there with them instead. "Arie?" Cherry's voice interrupted my daze. "What are you looking at?" "Oh, it's uh, nothing." Cherry followed my gaze. She saw the boys and grinned. "You checking out the Grease?" "What? N-no, I'm just looking out the window." "I don't blame you, they are really handsome, and everyone likes a bad boy." "I know I do." Marcia said, eyeing the Greasers with lust. "You know who's the hottest?" Cherry asked with a smirk. "Sodapop Curtis." Marcia said in a matter-of-fact way. "Mmhmm." Cherry nodded. "The boy draws girls like flys to honey." "He's so handsome." Marcia said, smiling adoringly. "Too bad he's Grease," Cherry said. "Or else I'd be _all over him_." "Cherry, you already are all over him." "Oh, hush!" Cherry instructed, giving Marcia a light slap on the arm. Marcia laughed. "Hey, Arie, do you know Sodapop?" Marcia asked. _Of course I know Sodapop_. "Yeah, I think I've seen him at the DX one or two times." "Isn't he dreamy?" Marcia asked me. "He's much better looking than that other boy who works there." "Steve." I said a little faster than I would have liked to. "I see him more at the DX so I guess I just kinda remembered his name." I said in an attempt to recover from my mistake. "He's not _that _bad looking." Marcia said. "I think he's kinda hot, with that stern look he always has." "Yeah, but he's a complete asshole." I added. "That's true." Marcia mumbled. Cherry stood up. "I'm going upstairs, are you guys coming?" "I'll come." Marcia said, standing up beside Cherry. "Arie?" "Nah, I think I'll stay down here for a little longer." {} As soon as Cherry and Marcia left, I headed out to the parking lot. Johnny, Ponyboy, Steve, Two-Bit and another boy I didn't recognize. "Hi." I said as I joined the group. "Who the hell are you?" The unfamiliar boy asked. "She's cool, Dally." Two-Bit said, walking up and placing a hand on Dally's shoulder. "Yeah. She's my friend." Ponyboy added. "Shit, really?" Dally buzzed. "Never would'a guessed it." "What's that supposed to mean?" I challenged, crossing my arms. "It means-" "Oh, shut the _fuck_ up you two! I'm workin' a headache." Steve shouted. "Jeez." I muttered, turned away from Steve and Dally. "You shit head!" Dally yelled, pouncing on Steve. Two-Bit laughed, joining the scuffle. "So," Ponyboy said, walking towards me. "How are ya?" "Never been better." I said. "I heard you went to Cherry Valance's party." "I did." I told him. "How was that?" I shrugged. "It was alright. Not the best." Ponyboy nodded. "Fair enough. Johnny and I are hittin' up the movies Friday, you down?" "I'm in!" Dally yelled from the scuffle. "Arie?" I thought about it for a minute. "Would it just be me, you, Johnny and Dally?" I asked. "If you want. I can invite more people." "What about Soda?" I asked hopefully. "Yeah, sure, I'll ask." _Jackpot._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was Friday night. The night of the movies. The night I could finally impress Soda and win his love. From the moment I got home from school I started getting ready. I wore my nicest dress and put on my nicest perfume. I must've spent over an hour on my hair and makeup. My hair was being temperamental. I wanted to wear it up all nice, but I was forced to wear my hair down like I usually did. When I was finally feeling pretty and like I was ready, it was only 5:30. The movie didn't start until 8, so I had some time to kill. The only thing was was that I had nothing to kill time with so I just sat in my room, quietly by myself. _That_ was a mistake. The only people in the room were my thoughts and I. The night at Cherry's party kept replaying over and over in my head. I wished I could have erased that one memory from my mind. It wouldn't leave my mind. I felt hot tears rolling down my cheeks. As the tears continued to fall, I heard a knock at my bedroom door.

"Arie?" My mothers voice pruned from the other side of the door. "Supper's ready."

"Okay mom." I said, wiping my face. I took a look in the mirror. Luckily, the tears hadn't smudged my makeup so I didn't have to redo anything.

{}

I walked down to the dining room. I sat at the end of the table, away from my mother and Doug.

"Well don't you look lovely!" My mother exclaimed, a bright smile on her face. "Where are you off to tonight?"

"The movies." I responded, stabbing my fork into the piece of ham that was on my plate.

"It better not be with any boys." Doug threatened. "Especially the skids in this neighbourhood."

"I'm going with Cherry and Marcia." I lied. "And what makes them skids? If we live in this neighbourhood, aren't we skids?"

"No, we actually have money." Doug said.

"Yeah, thanks to _mom. _If you ever got off of your fat ass, we'd be living in a nice neighbourhood."

"That's enough, Arabella!" My mother scolded. "You look so much like your father." She said to change the subject.

"Thanks mom-"

"What the fuck did I tell you?" Doug interrupted, staring at my mother.

"Doug, he is her father."

"_Was. _He's six feet under now. I told you never to talk about him." My mother looked down at her food. She looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. I stared at Doug with a look of disgust on my face. I didn't always hate Doug. At the beginning of his and my mother's relationship he was actually kinda nice. He used to take my mother and I to my father's grave every Sunday and he kept all the pictures of my dad up around the house.

{}

Around the second year of Doug being in the family, my mother got pregnant. Everyone, including myself, was ecstatic. It was almost like a symbol that our new life was starting. There would be a new baby and a new family, but of course, it all went wrong.

{}

My mother began complaining about a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Then there was the blood. We had to rush her to the hospital where she received an emergency c-section. No one expected to see a living baby, but that's exactly what we saw. I had a little brother. They named him Douglas.

{}

We brought Douglas home and everyone was happy. We were all extremely tired, so we called it an early night. The next morning, I was woken up by a scream. Douglas had died in his sleep. The doctors said it was cardiac arrest. It was devastating to us all. My mother stayed in bed for a month. I think Douglas' death was what made Doug the way he is. My mother was able to recover, but Doug never did.

{}

We finished dinner in silence. I looked at the clock. It read 7:35. I got up from the dinner table, brought my plate into the kitchen and headed out the door. I was to meet Ponyboy, Johnny, Dally and hopefully Soda at the lot. By the time I got there, the sun had already set. I was able to locate the boys thanks to the light from their cigarettes. When I walked up to them, my heart skipped a beat, and then sunk. Soda was there. But so was Steve. And Two-Bit. And two girls I didn't know. I wanted to turn around and walk away. Or de-materialize. Either would be great. Ponyboy spotted me before I could turn around.

"Ready to go?" He asked, flicking his cigarette on to the ground. I looked at the girls. They were both taller than me and extremely skinny.

"Um, yeah, about that." I said, looking around to avoid eye contact with Ponyboy. "I don't think I'll be able to go."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I don't know." I told him, shrugging. I had a growing, anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. It would've been fine if those girls hadn't of been there. They intimidated me. Even in the darkness, I could tell that they were a lot prettier than me. Ponyboy grabbed my wrist and lead me away from the rest of the group.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I looked away from him, his hand still firmly grasped on my wrist.

"It's nothing."

"Is it Sylvia and Evie?" He asked, almost reading my mind. When I didn't answer, he looked back at them. "You don't have to worry about them, if anything just ignore them. They're just Steve and Dally's girls. You have to come, Arie, I want you to get to know the gang." I nodded.

"Okay."

"So you're coming?"

"Yeah I guess." I said, even though I was still feeling anxious.

{}

As we walked to the drive in, I trailed from the rest of the group. Sylvia and Evie were constantly yelling about something and hanging off of their men. I would've been talking with Soda, but he was preoccupied with Steve. I felt _so _out of place. They were talking about how things I didn't know about, rumbles and rodeos and things like that.

"So," one of the girls said, looking back at me. "You just move here?"

"Yeah. I moved here from Saginaw." I told her.

"Where the _fuck _is that?" she asked.

"Um, it's in Michigan." I told her. "I'm Arabella."

"Sylvia."

"I'm Evie." The other girl introduced.

"Hi." I said, waving at them. I felt like they noticed my disinterest, so they returned to Dally and Steve. I sighed. I really wanted to be at home.

{}

The movie was one of those cliché beach movies that consisted of a bunch of people dancing in bathing suits. Everyone was rowdy and the only people actually paying attention to the movie were me, Ponyboy and Johnny. I still felt left out.

"Um, Ponyboy." I whispered, leaning towards him.

"Yeah?" he whispered back, focusing on the movie.

"I'm gonna leave now."

"Okay." he said. He obviously wasn't listening so I just got up and left. I was in the lobby when the doors to the theatre opened. It was Soda.

"Hey, Arie, where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm leaving." I told him, my face heating up. I was shocked that Soda even noticed me leaving.

"Why? The movie's not even close to bein' done."

"I just- I want to go home, Soda." he gave me a sympathetic look.

"Can I at least walk you home?"

"Yeah, sure." I said, smiling.

{}

Walking with Sodapop made me feel powerful. Knowing that I was walking home with the most attractive guy in Tulsa- maybe not Tulsa, but at least our neighbourhood- gave me a feeling of importance.

"So, _Arabella, _I'd still love to get to know you."

"Well what do you wanna know?" I asked.

"I dunno, just tell me about yourself."

"I'm not that interesting of a person."

"Aw, c'mon, you gotta have at least one interestin' thing in your life." Soda insisted.

"Well I guess-" But as soon as I saw the blue Mustang drive by, all the air in my lungs disappeared. I kept my fingers crossed that the car would just drive past, and it did, but not before slowing down as it drives past us. I could see Bob through the driver's side window. I turned away, feeling as if I was going to throw up.

"Arie?" Soda asked, grabbing my shoulder.

"I-I need to go home, Soda." I looked up. I could see my house from where we were.

"Are you okay?" Soda sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm just not feeling well."

"C'mon," Soda put his arm around my shoulders. "We'll get ya home."

I was still feeling sick, but my heart was beating incredibly fast. When we arrived at my house, Soda walked me all the way up to my door. "Feel better, okay?"

"Thank you so much for walking me home."

"It's no problem, Arie. Look, I had a great time walking with you tonight. What are you doing next Saturday?"

"I um-I," I took a deep breath. "I'm doing nothing at all."

"There's a rodeo and I wanted to know if you wanted to come watch."

"Of course." I told him. "I'll be there."

"Okay, great." he said, smiling. "Good night."

"Good night, Soda." And with that, I went inside, straight up to my room and screamed into my pillow.

Little did I know that that night would begin the string of events that led up to me writing all of this. That night, my life truly began.


End file.
